Main Idea/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Singing birds are heard. A man, Tim, and a robot, Moby are riding bicycles on a street. A car passes by and its exhaust fumes fill the screen. We hear Tim cough. TIM: Ugh, gross! I wish other people would ride their bikes instead of always using cars. Tim is heard reading from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I don’t understand what my teacher means when he asks me to find the main idea. Can you help me? From Gladys TIM: Sure, Gladys. The main idea is just the main point that is being stated in a paragraph, essay, article or other passage. It’s what’s specifically being said about a particular topic. The video changes. An animation shows a book sitting on a table. A speech bubbles appears above the book. Inside the bubble text reads: “Main Idea.” TIM: The topic of a paragraph or passage is the general subject. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Okay, say you were reading an article about how cheetahs can run at very high speeds. The video changes. An animation shows a two column table being drawn. Above the first column text reads: Topic. Above the second column, text reads: Main Idea. TIM: The topic would be cheetahs, because that’s the general subject of the article: cheetahs. And the main idea would be that cheetahs can run fast, because that’s the point the article is trying to get across. The text “Cheetahs” and an image of a cheetah appear in the first column. The text “Cheetah’s run fast” and an image of a running cheetah appear in the second column. TIM: Details support what the author is trying to say with examples. They’re sort of likeevidence as to why the main idea is true. The details would explain what makes a cheetah run so fast, how fast it can run, things like that. The video changes. An image shows a cheetah sitting. Text appears around the cheetah. Text reads: light body weight for maximum speed. A line connects this text to the cheetah’s chest. Text reads: small, aerodynamic head. A line connects this text to the cheetah’s head. Text reads: Flexible spine for long strides. A line connects this text to the cheetah’s back. Text reads: Long, flat tail for high speed cornering. A line connects this text to the cheetah’s tail. TIM: All right, let’s read this paragraph and try to find the main idea. The video changes. The screen is divided into two sections. An animation shows a smoking cigarette sitting in an ashtray in the first section. The text being read by Tim is slowly scrolling up the screen in the second section. Tim is heard reading the paragraph. TIM: Not only is smoking cigarettes a disgusting and smelly habit, it’s also extremely bad for your health. It has been proven to cause cancer, lung disease, and heart disease, and to weaken your immune system. Smoking makes it a lot harder to breathe, which means it’s more difficult to play sports and get the exercise you need to stay healthy. It is also harmful for those hanging around a smoker, because they breathe the smoky air. Even though most people are aware of how bad smoking is for them, more than 1,000 people die each day from its effects! The video changes. An animation shows Tim and Moby standing outside. TIM: So first, let’s figure out the topic. What would you say the topic is — the general subject that this paragraph is discussing? MOBY: Beep. TIM: That’s right, the topic is smoking — specifically, cigarette smoking. Now let’s try to find the main idea. The video changes. An animation shows a two column table being drawn. Above the first column text reads: Topic. Above the second column, text reads: Main Idea. The text “smoking” and an image of a smoking cigarette appear in the first column. A “?” appears in the second column. TIM: To find the main idea, ask yourself, what point is the writer trying to make? It’s always helpful to skim through the passage again and see what words are repeated, and what idea the author is trying to stress, or get across. The video changes. A portion of text from the paragraph Tim previously read aloud is shown on the screen. Certain words are highlighted. Highlighted text reads: • Disgusting • Smelly • Bad • Cancer • Disease • Weaken TIM: What do you think the main idea is, Moby? MOBY: Beep! Beep! TIM: Well, the writer is saying that smoking is gross, but more specifically, that smoking is bad for your health. You can tell this from the details in the paragraph: that smoking causes cancer and heart and lung disease; that it makes you sick; and that it makes it hard to breathe. The video changes. The screen is divided into two sections. One-by-one three images appear in the first section. The first image shows the lining of a human lung. The second image shows a boy sick in bed. The third image shows a silhouette of a person. The trachea and lungs of the person can be seen. A portion of text from the paragraph Tim previously read aloud is shown in the second section of screen. TIM: Sometimes, the main idea will be at the start of a paragraph or article. In the passage we just read, the writer pretty much stated the main idea in the first sentence. But the main idea can be stated anywhere in a piece of text. Sometimes it’s in the second or third paragraph, for instance, or sometimes it will come at the very end as a conclusion. The video changes. An image shows a piece of paper. Lines representing text are on the paper. The lines are broken up into five groups to illustrate paragraphs. The second and third groups are quickly highlighted. The fifth group is then highlighted. TIM: It’s not always that clear, though, and sometimes you have to do a little more work to figure it out. One important thing to remember is that sometimes you’re going to have to reread the passage, and go back to it a few times, to get a good sense of what’s being discussed. The video changes. An animation shows a pair of hands. While one hand is holding the paper, the other hand is scanning the text on the paper. TIM: Let’s look at the newspaper article that Moby was reading earlier. The video changes. An animation shows Tim holding a newspaper. Tim is heard reading an article from the newspaper. TIM: “When we can, it’s important to carpool, use public transportation like buses and trains, ride a bike, or walk instead of driving a car. These things release fewer dangerous toxins into the air. You may not realize it, but air pollution is becoming a bigger problem every day. It is terribly damaging to the environment and the air we breathe. For this reason, we should try to cut back on harmful emissions. One of the best ways to reduce pollution is to use methods of transportation that are less harmful to the environment.” The video changes. An animation shows Tim and Moby standing outside. TIM: So what would you say are the topic and main idea in this passage? MOBY: Beep. Beep. TIM: Right. The topic is air pollution, air pollution and the main idea is that driving cars less helps reduce air pollution. The video changes. An animation shows a two column table being drawn. Above the first column text reads: Topic. Above the second column, text reads: Main Idea. The text “air pollution” and an image of smog appear in the first column. The text “driving cars less helps reduce air pollution” and an image of a universal no symbol appear in the second column. A car is inside the universal no symbol. MOBY: Beep! Beep! TIM: Yes, and riding your bike is a good way to do that. Anyway, if you’re ever stuck on finding a main idea, it helps to ask yourself general questions about the passage. They can be things like: Is it about a person? An idea or theory? An event? That way you can start by getting a broader idea of what's being discussed. The video changes. The screen is divided into four equal sections. In the first section, an image shows a stick figure. Over the stick figure, text reads: person. In the second section, an image shows a light bulb. Over the light bulb, text reads: idea. In the third section, an image shows a thought bubble. Over the thought bubble, text reads: theory. In the fourth section, an image shows a calendar. Over the calendar, text reads: event. TIM: Another helpful thing you do is pretend someone has asked you what the paragraph or essay is about. If you can give an answer that sums up the passage in just one sentence, you’ve probably got the main idea! The video changes. An image shows Moby holding up a piece of paper. Next to Moby, text reads: beep, beep? MOBY: Beep. The video changes. An animation shows Moby handing a bicycle helmet to Tim. TIM: But we just got home. Where are we supposed to ride our bikes to? MOBY: Beep! Beep! Moby holds one hand over his mouth. Moby looks concerned. TIM: What do you mean, we can’t stop riding our bikes? I’m not so sure you got the main idea of that article. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts